Surfside stuck in the sand over $1M removal cost

A town decision to remove sand from Surfside’s public beach remains murky nearly a year after a developer took sand from a Miami Beach construction site and spread it over the public beach.

The Surfside commission, which unanimously voted in September to have the sand removed and put in the dunes, has put the issue back on the table after the estimate for sand removal ballooned from $158,000 to more than $1 million, according to the Miami Herald.

Nadim Ashi’s Fort Capital dug up the sand from the future site of the Surf Club Hotel and Residences at 9011 Collins Avenue. Experts hired by Miami-Dade County said the arsenic levels in the sand posed a low risk, but residents later hired an independent toxicologist who found levels of lead in the sand, the Herald reported.

In August, the developer received a $290 million loan for the hotels and condos, which are expected to be complete in 2016.

The commission will schedule a special meeting in February to discuss the issue. [Miami Herald] — Katherine Kallergis